Herbology

Feeling a little helpless, I realise that I'm the only one in Hufflepuff without a partner, and I'm standing at a planting tray all on my own.

"Um…" says a timid voice behind me, and when I spin around, I see it's a red-faced Gryffindor boy who I vaguely recognize. "Do you want to partner me?"

Relief floods through my body as I nod and move up to make room for the boy at the planting tray.

"I'm Hannah," I tell him as we start working, each of us using half the planting tray to plant our seeds.

"I'm Neville," he replies, looking up at me and blushing harder.

There's a short pause, and then I realise how I know him.

"Did you lose a toad on the train?" I ask, a little shyly, and Neville's face goes even redder as he nods, laughing ruefully.

I laugh a little in reply, and I've made a friend.

***

At the end of the lesson, we look down at the plants that are already starting to burst through the soil.

One side of the planting tray is perfectly neat, with the plants growing straight and in perfect, symmetrical lines.

The other is all over the place, and the plants are growing so wildly that only about half of them are still in the tray.

Needless to say, the neat side is Neville's.

"How do you get the plants to stay so neat?" I demand, brushing my hair out of my eyes.

Neville grins. "You have to plant them slightly diagonal, because they move around when they're growing," he explains.

"Oh," I say, slightly put out. "How did you know that?"

"My Great Uncle Algie's good with plants," Neville tells me. "He taught me all this stuff."

"Oh," I say again.

"Right, class," says Professor Sprout, interrupting our awkward conversation. "When you're tidy, you can go!"

As we tidied as we went along, Neville and I are the first to go.

When I head back up to the Common Room to tidy up before dinner, I can't help but wish Neville was in Hufflepuff too.